Overview
"Oh Happy Day" was a 1952 surprise hit song, one of the first whose initial popularity was driven by teenagers rather than support from the music industry.
The song was originally recorded and copyrighted by Don Howard, a high school student who had learned the song secondhand; the song's originator, Nancy Binns Reed, heard the song and within weeks of its release sued to claim songwriter credit. Reed and Howard eventually settled, with each receiving co-writer credits. Concurrently with Howard's original acoustic pop recording, concurrent cover versions by two established acts, the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (whose version featured a now-famous basso profondo lead vocal by Larry Hooper) and The Four Knights, were also released; for a time in 1953, all three versions were top-10 hits.
Structure
The song is set in a basic four-chord progression, either I-vi-ii-V7 or I-vi-IV-V7 depending on the musical arrangement. The song has four verses of eight bars each, with no refrain or chorus, sung and performed in a slow swing rhythm.
While different covers of "Oh Happy Day" phrased the lyrics somewhat differently, the official sheet music for the initial hit version by Don Howard has the following lyrics:
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